A bold thief's second attempt at swiping a luxury ride from a Fayetteville Tesla dealership tanked when alert staff recognized him from a previous heist, according to authorities. Fouad Kemal, 24, of Silver Springs, Maryland, was nabbed alongside an accomplice while trying to pull off another high-end auto theft within a month of a successful December caper. Both men are now facing multiple charges.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, Kemal, using the Tesla app, initially acquired a Tesla worth $112,000 last December under falsified pretenses. Returning on Jan. 6 for a second go with fake ID in tow, dealership employees who had interacted with the man during the first scam, immediately recognized him, leading to a swift call to 911 which brought the police to the scene in time.
After conducting on-site interviews and investigating the scene, the Fayetteville Police Department slapped Kemal with two counts each of financial identity fraud and forgery, as well as one count of theft by taking and theft by deception. His cohort, Hazma Addow, 26, from Stone Mountain, was also cuffed and charged with one count of financial identity fraud and obstruction of an officer. "The criminal investigation division did very little with this case since the patrol officers handled 99 percent of it," a police spokesperson elucidated, as stated in a report by The Citizen.
The emboldened duo arrived at the dealership in a Chevrolet, perhaps not realizing the lure of a second Tesla would raise suspicion. Despite their failed bid, the first Tesla in question remains unaccounted for, leaving police and the luxury car manufacturer in the lurch concerning its whereabouts.
Fayetteville police are now digging deeper into the case, hinting that additional charges could be in the pipeline as more crimes could have come to light. This ill-fated Tesla snatch-and-grab serves as a stark reminder that crime doesn't pay, especially when trying to deceive the same dealership twice.
